That case ended the state's 26-day streak of no locally acquired cases and pushed NSW's hopes of"eliminating"the virus into the new year.
Western Australia has previously said NSW would need to record 28 days without a local case before it would reopen its border,a milestone the state was scheduled to reach on Saturday but has been pushed back to the new year.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard said he had instructed NSW Health to look at the arrangements for airline crews in quarantine,noting generally Australian international crew members self-isolate at home while those based overseas self-isolate in a quarantine hotel.
Unlike other quarantine hotel residents,who are tested on the second and 10th days of their fortnight-long stay,airline crews do not complete routine coronavirus testing. Mr Hazzard said this was because they normally stayed for much shorter periods of time.
"But the fact that there has now been a case which all of the genomic sequencing is showing may link back to international aircrews ... indicates that we've always got to be alert to what might be happening that we haven't seen before,"he said,adding any findings would likely be shared with other states and territories.
Mr Hazzard described the new infection as a"twilight zone case". While it has been recorded as a local case,he was hesitant to say it was a case within the community due to its overseas source.